St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-25
A BIOGRAPHY
OF the Financier who Is Now No
More,


Daniel Manning was born in Albany,
n. Y, Aug. l6, 1881, of an ancestry
ranging into Irish, English and Dutch,
the stock which settled Albany. His
early life was one of hardship. At the
age of eleven years he entered the office
of the Albany Atlas, now the Argus.
He worked his way up to the position of
cOmpositOr, foreman, reporter, associate
editor, business manager and president
of the Argus company. His training
made him familiar with public affairs
and he actively aided the late Samuel j.
Tilden in the war against the Tweed
ring. He was member of the state
Democratic convention, at Syracuse, in
1874, which nominated Tilden for gov
ernOr, but it was in the Democratic ma
tiOnai convention at Chicago, in 1884,
that Daniel Manning first attracted ma
tiOnal attention. 1t was largely to his
commanding presence and magnificent
leadership in the convention that Mr..
Cleveland'S nomination was due. An
adherent of another candidate finally
went over to Mr.. Cleveland with the re-
mark: Il know nothing of Cleveland,
but have come to the conclusion that
there must be something in candidate
who could win to his following so strong
a man as Daniel Manning"
When President Cleveland was in
augurated and formed his cabinet,
on March 5, 1885, he appointed Mr.. Man
ming secretary of the treasury. He had
never before held public office, but had
been active in business enterprises. In
1882 he became president Of the Ma
tional Commercial bank of Albany, of
which he had previously been director
and vice president. He was married in
1853 to Mary Little, a lady of English
parentage. who died in 1882, leaving
four sons and daughters grown to the
age of maturity. He married q second
time shortly before his appointment to
a cabinet position. From 1878 until the
time of his appointment as secretary of
the treasury he had been the recognized
head of the Democratic organization of
the state of New York. The great
political triumph of Mr.. Manning was
the nomination of Cleveland for preSi-
dent. 1t was not until late in the spring
of 1884 that Mr.. Cleveland'S consent to
become candidate for the nomination
was obtained. In the meanwhile ROS-
well p. Flower, the Tammany hall
organization and other opponents
of Mr.. Cleveland had nearly
gained control of the Dem
OcraJlc state convention Ill NEW OK.
1t was foreseel by Cleveland's rivals
outside of New York that if he lost the
delegation from his own state, or if
there was serious opposition made in
the convention to his nomination for
president, their own chances for being
nominated would be increased. They
fomented discOrd. Mr.. Manning, by a
great effort, suppressed all outward
manifestation of opposition to MIR.
| Cleveland in the convention, boldly left
the New York delegation ''unpledged"
to Cleveland. and went to Chicago ap-
! parently with little backing. But in
the interval between the state conven-
| ton and the national convention he Sc
| cretly gained possession of the votes of
majority of the New York delegates,
bound the others to Cleveland by the
''unit rule" and. as all know, nominated
| Cleveland for president.
March %, 1856, Mr.. Manning became
| very ill of overwork, and Travelled for
time, hoping to gain his power and vi
tality. Temporarily his health i'm
proved, but shortly afterward he in
sisted on the president accepting his
resignation from the cabinet.